This invention relates to a method and apparatus to express and deploy in a visual fashion the definition and referencing between alternative perspectives of an organization. The method and apparatus give a general way to describe, understand and explore an organization from multiple points of view that are held in synchronization. Although described with reference to implementation via apparatus in the form of a computer database, it should be appreciated that the method may be adapted to advantage in other ways.
Over recent years, organizations in many industries have recognized and registered benefits from the construction and communication of graphical visualizations of their structures and operations. Such benefits include improvements in the areas of change and performance management, and quality implementation.
However, the following needs are not addressed by current methods:                A need to be able to define multiple perspectives upon an organization, in a completely flexible and unlimited manner (e.g. geographic, organizational, technical, cultural, . . . ).        Within this, a need to be able to define references of general and unrestricted types between the elements of these perspectives (e.g. systems used by processes, people responsible for processes, people needed to be consulted by processes, . . . ).        A need to be able to understand, dynamically, the connexions of an element within a broader organizational graph, in terms of its dependencies with other elements, of the same or of different types.        A need to be able to use these visual connexions to navigate between elements within different perspectives (e.g. to navigate directly from a process to a system).        
One form of prior art is the ability to establish connections between kinds of elements which is important in graphical design tools, and many of the current CASE Tools provide visual mechanisms for connecting specific perspectives (e.g. swimlanes). Such tools, however, fix the perspectives that are available together with the manner in which they are connected. Within this, John Zachman's “Framework for Enterprise Architecture” is the best example of a methodology that defines a finite set of defined perspectives.
A further form of known prior art is the class of general diagramming tools which allow completely flexible connectivity between elements. As such tools have no underlying schema, the meaning associated with a diagram is either added by annotation, or assumed to be expressed orally (i.e. as the diagram is presented).
A component approach to software construction is also known which has yielded valuable improvements in development and management of systems. Innovations originating from that work are various; see, for example EP0883057 “Method and apparatus for software component analysis” and WO0122331 “Method for defining an executable business model”.
Related to this approach is the notion of autonomous intelligent software agents, which have been widely reported in recent years. A number of patents have emerged (e.g. WO0102952 “Improved Software Interface Agent”). Such inventions assert a component approach to software construction whereby components are able to perform “intelligently” through deployment of sophisticated analysis techniques including “learning”.
A yet further known form of prior art includes graphical approaches to business development and transformation which increasingly play a significant part in business change programs. In a previous invention (British Patent Application No. 0112277.9 “Flexible and Direct Navigation”), a navigation mechanism has been described. In another (British patent Application No. 0118491.0 “Visual Synchronization”), a mechanism has been described to synchronize hierarchy and graphical views of an organization.